Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multidirectional wheels. In particular, it relates to an omni-directional roller skate wheel which allows the user to initiate motion, brake, or stop by turning the skate transverse to the direction of travel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Roller skate wheels are well known. However, conventional roller skates are not designed to operate in a manner which allows an effective simulation of the mechanics of motion a skater experiences when ice skating. As a result, efforts have been made to design multidirectional wheel assemblies for roller skates. For example, in the related art, U.S. patent Ser. No. 6,065,762, issued to Brelvi, provides a multidirectional in-line roller skate having a wheel frame secured to the bottom surface of the skate and a plurality of spherical wheels. The spherical wheels can rotate horizontally along a riding surface and vertically three hundred and sixty degrees in a clock wise and counter clockwise direction upon the riding surface. When mounted on the sole of a skate shoe the spherical wheels allow the skater to perform tight figure skating maneuvers on the riding surface. However, while Brelvi, and the patents cited therein, teaches a wheel assembly which allows the skater to use a forward and lateral motion, they do not teach skate assemblies which provide the initiation of acceleration or breaking by turning the skate transverse to the direction of travel as one experiences when ice skating.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,238, issued to Brown, discloses a single axis roller skate wheel useful for breaking upon the application of a lateral force by the skater against the riding surface. The wheel is constructed for rolling in both the forward and lateral directions of the skate. A plurality of rollers are mounted on the wheel hub, each roller rotatable about an axis tangential to a circle on the wheel axis. The rollers conform to a second circle on the wheel axis for contact with a skating surface. Application of friction to the rollers controls the resistance to lateral rolling, thus providing a braking action to the skater. However, the Brown wheel assembly is limited in practical application because of its single axis nature and the complex configuration of the rollers about the periphery of the wheel.
Thus, what is needed is an omni-directional wheel assembly for a skate or board which provides a frictional bias in the forward and backward motion over the side-to-side motion and which is useful for the user to initiate motion, brake, or stop by turning the skate or board transverse to the direction of travel. The present invention satisfies this need.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an omni-directional wheel having a frictional bias which favors a forward and backward motion over a side-to side motion.
It is another object of the invention to provide an omni-directional roller skate having a frictional bias in favor of a forward and backward motion over a side-to-side motion where the magnitude of the frictional bias is adjustable in order to meet the needs of the particular skater relative to the playing surface.
It is another object of the invention is to provide an omni-directional wheel assembly which allows roller skaters, skate boarders, and scooter riders to brake, slow-down, or stop by turning their skates or riding surfaces in a direction transverse to the forward and backward direction of travel.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a roller skate which enables the skater to more closely emulate the mechanics of motion experience when ice skating.
To overcome the problems of the prior art methods and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, briefly, an omni-directional wheel is provided which includes a frame having an upper portion for affixing the frame to an under-side of a weight bearing surface, at least two side walls, and a central cavity defined by the side walls for receiving at least one spherical wheel, at least two wheel bearings connected in axial alignment to the side walls for rotation of the wheel about a fixed axis, at least two wheel seats each having one side connected to the wheel bearings and an opposite conical face wherein the conical faces are disposed in opposite axial alignment for mounting the wheel between the faces and a force of static friction is exerted relative to the conical faces and the wheel when the wheel is rotating about the fixed axis and a force of kinetic friction is exerted relative to the conical faces and the wheel when the wheel is rotating about an axis perpendicular to the fixed axis, and an upper load bearing connected to the frame which bias against an upper surface of the wheel.
Additional advantages of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will be obvious from that description or can be learned from practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention can be realized and obtained by the apparatus particularly pointed out in the appended claims.